Lafayette could have its own medical school by July 2017, according to officials who came together this morning for a private meeting at the Lafayette Consolidated Government building.

The school would be a local campus of LSU Health Sciences Center and would partner with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and area hospitals.

Instead of a traditional four-year program, the Lafayette medical school would likely provide a fast-track curriculum that would allow students to work through the summers to complete training and residencies in three years.

About 40 people from the health care, government and business sectors attended the meeting, which was closed to the news media and the public. The Daily Advertiser caught up with public officials after the meeting.

State Rep. Jack Montoucet, D-Acadia Parish, said the meeting developed a hypothetical concept into a realistic plan.

"The infrastructure is there, and that's the biggest piece of the puzzle," Montoucet said. "The monetary portion is actually a small piece of the puzzle, and so once we get that together, then we're ready to rock and roll."

The Lafayette medical school, in essence, would add a first-year component to the existing third- and fourth-year clinical residency program already in place at Lafayette General Health's Lafayette General Medical Center and its newly acquired University Hospital and Clinic, formerly University Medical Center.

LGH implemented its residency program at UHC in July 2013 and has 82 available spots for residents each year in the current program, according to Paul Molbert, vice president of network development and accountable care for the LGH system.

"Lafayette General Health will do whatever it takes to support this," Molbert said. "Because we know that it will greatly improve health care for our students and have a positive economic impact."

There are currently three medical schools in Louisiana — LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport and Tulane University's School of Medicine — that graduate about 450 medical students each year.

Louisiana has a shortage of physicians, especially primary care physicians in rural areas, and that shortage is expected to grow as there are more physicians in Louisiana who are 60 or older than there are physicians who are younger than 40.

The Lafayette campus of LSU Health Sciences would accept about 40 students per year, helping to meet the demand of healthcare providers as Louisiana's population ages and more people gain access to health insurance.

"There is nothing more precious than life and caring for life," said Dee Stanley, chief administrative officer for LCG. "And this initiative is something that provides primary health care at the level where people need it most."

Bud Barrow, CEO of Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center, said that Wednesday's conversation was about more than the hospitals in Lafayette or what a medical school could bring to the city.

"It's about putting primary care physicians in the community, especially the rural communities," Barrow said. "We have a progressive community that's interested in doing whatever it takes to better the state."

The LSU brand has often been met with resistance from UL diehards, but those who attended the meeting insist that the LSU medical school campus would be nothing but positive for Lafayette.

"I don't think we're going to be playing football against them in the medical school building," said Sen. Page Cortez, R-Lafayette. "But what we're really trying to do is educate people to take care of all of Louisiana from a health prospective."

Aaron Martin, spokesman for UL, said Wednesday that the university is supportive of the medical school plans moving forward.

A key driver of the Lafayette medical school conversation, State Treasurer John Kennedy said that Wednesday's meeting marked the start of a serious journey.

"This would not take away resources from anybody else or take students away from any other region," Kennedy said.

"The purpose of this is to recognize we have this huge demand. People need doctors. We don't have enough, and we have really smart kids that want to be doctors. And if we don't train them in Louisiana, they're going to go to Texas or Oklahoma or New York. So why don't we keep our own bright kids here?"